The Luna Cure

FIFTY

Max groaned, laying his head on his arms. "Please do not get her started."

His mate sent a quick glare in his direction before looking back at Dante. "When's your birthday?"

Dante sighed, leaning back in his chair. "February 14th." The words escaped rather reluctantly, as if this fact annoyed him.

She gasped, her face lighting up with excitement. "Valentine's Day! That's so cute!" A frown took over her expression immediately after saying that. Valentine's Day sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite remember it. "But I'll bet it ruins the holiday."

Dante smiled a little. "Everyone says that. You can do more than celebrate a birthday or go on a date in a day."

"I guess." She nodded. "But you'll never have the day all to yourself."

His eyes rolled in a dismissive manner. "I really do not need an entire day."

Max lifted his head up to roll his eyes. "That's a total lie. No way Princey does not love his birthday."

Maggie handed my phone back to me, pointing to a new square on my home screen. "This is a really fun horoscope thing. You just put in your birthday and then every day it will give you, like, a prediction of what will happen. And there's a side panel where you can learn about all the different signs."

I frowned. Prediction of what will happen? Seemed sketchy, and I didn't love the idea of messing around with finding out the future.

Batilda always claimed she knew the futures of all of us. She also controlled our futures, so I was never horribly fearful of her warnings of the future. It was literally out of my hands.

But this app, saying it could predict the future, was stupid, and also a bad reminder of the witch that had ruined everything. I wanted nothing to do with it.

However, looking back up at Maggie's excited expression, I realized that I couldn't delete the thing in front of her, or I'd risk seeming ungrateful.

"Why is that crazy?" Dante asked Max, pressing his crossed arms against the table and leaning in.

"Because you're you. You love big events and getting drunk. A birthday is both of those."

I tried to ignore the conversation, nodding at Maggie. "Thanks, uh, for this." I did my very best to try and sound positive and friendly.

Of course, I was myself, and that was near-impossible.

"I am obligated to almost all of the events that I do. That doesn't mean I enjoy them." Dante responded.

Maggie gave me a smile in return. "Of course." She waited a beat, and then added, "It's just something fun. I don't take it as seriously as Max thinks I do."

Max turned his attention towards us. "Not true. You check every morning." He then refocused on Dante, shaking his head. "So the future King, who will have to throw a million different galas and parties, doesn't particularly care for them?"

"No. I enjoy seeing all of my family and having us all together, but there's usually a couple hundred people also there that really don't need to be." He rolled his eyes, once again leaning back in his chair.

"Are you going to be at any of the balls soon?" Maggie asked me quietly, drawing my attention away from Dante and Max.

Blinking, my stupid brain took a second to comprehend her question, having been invested in Dante and Max's conversation. When I finally understood, my eyes widened, and I shook my head furiously. "No. Never." Not again. And not even because I had almost died at the last one, because the last one wasn't awful until it was. It had been fine before I had ran in front of the bullets, actually. I was left to myself with plenty of champagne.